Skilled Factory Fabrication Wins Out

How often do varying structural expansion joint size problems arise that threaten the success of a project? More often than you’d realize it turns out. Construction would be a whole lot easier if the outcome of all designs was consistent and uniform. But that doesn’t happen in the real world as the size of expansion gaps often varies. This leaves the contractor with the expensive choices of cutting to enlarge, patching to reduce,  or resetting in the case of precast, to make joint gaps uniform.

This size variation is less problematic with Sika Emseal pre-compressed foam expansion joints because the width of each separate 6.5-foot (2-meter) length stick can be ordered to adapt to a variation in gap width. But it’s more of a challenge when a continuously extruded, long-run gland system is to be installed. Being a long welded unit, with monolithic straight runs, it is less system-capable of large size variations that go beyond the movement capability of the gland. And the most common offending challenge is at the transitions (often horizontal same-plane) where various size expansion gaps all meet. The solution is joining all of the glands together for a watertight seal, but joining different sizes, or even different products, takes very skilled fabrication.

You can see here a well-executed factory fabricated weld joining different Sika Emseal Thermaflex® watertight membrane systems. In this case the expansion joint size changes around a column from the TM 2.5 system to the TCR-500 system. The TM 2.5 is accommodating a 2 ¼-inch (55mm) expansion joint that is meeting up with the TCR-500’s 3 ½-inch (90mm) wide joint. Quite a difference in sizes. And because there is often shear movement at intersecting substrates, each joining end is also built with Sika Emseal’s exclusive shear-pocket to accommodate this movement. Want to know how we daily create these types of fabrications – just ask us and we’ll be glad to go into more detail.

We are proud of the solutions that we can offer from our design engineers and our factory fabrication team. The next time that you have any structural challenges contact us and we’ll roll up our sleeves to customize a watertight expansion joint to meet your structural need and your schedule.